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Modern Warfare, The Vietnam War, The Tet Offensive 1968

A worthy addition to a fine series of books reviewing Modern Warfare. As with other titles in the series, this book features concise text and lavish illustration that includes full colour images. For enthusiasts and professionals, this will be a useful and interesting addition to available knowledge about the Cold War and its many hot local wars, fought through proxies. It is well-timed as Russia once more plunges the world back into a cold war that will be all the more dangerous and unpredictable than the first Cold War. The book also provides an excellent entry point for those wishing to develop their knowledge of modern warfare at an affordable price.

There is much to learn from the Tet Offensive and this book is a good tutor.

NAME: Modern Warfare, The Vietnam War, The Tet Offensive 1968
DATE: 200215
FILE: R2155
AUTHOR: Anthony Tucker-Jones
PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword
BINDING: soft back
PAGES: 160
PRICE: £14.99
GENRE: Non Fiction
SUBJECT: Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army, US Army, USAF, CIA, Air America, Tet Offensive, jungle warfare, column warfare, fire-base, asymmetric warfare
ISBN: 1-78346-362-7
IMAGE: B2155.jpg
BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/n5lp77u
LINKS:
DESCRIPTION: A worthy addition to a fine series of books reviewing Modern Warfare. As with other titles in the series, this book features concise text and lavish illustration that includes full colour images. For enthusiasts and professionals, this will be a useful and interesting addition to available knowledge about the Cold War and its many hot local wars, fought through proxies. It is well-timed as Russia once more plunges the world back into a cold war that will be all the more dangerous and unpredictable than the first Cold War. The book also provides an excellent entry point for those wishing to develop their knowledge of modern warfare at an affordable price.

The Vietnam War now seems a lifetime away and many will have been born after its ending. It is perhaps best known from films that do not necessarily achieve a high level of accuracy, even if they make good entertainment.

The rush from Empire for the nations of Europe was under joint pressure from the USSR and the USA. Both new world powers wanted to cement their victory over Europe in the Second World War. That required convincing the old colonial powers to move out and make room for the new Imperial powers. The USSR saw things in a very crude clear way of imperial expansion and dominance. The USA had a more complex, but immature, view of international relations, having previously been an inward-looking country. It was inevitable that the old colonial powers left before they could prepare a reliable handover to the emergent nations that were growing out of a colonial environment. That inevitably led in many cases to civil war as the new political leaders fought each other. Also inevitably, the two new imperial powers saw each other as the natural enemy, always with a danger of major war breaking out, but largely fighting through proxies.

The Vietnam War came about because the arbitrary partition of Vietnam was an automatic cause of conflict between North and South. Russia and China took the side of North Vietnam, making it impossible for the USA to avoid coming to the aid of the South. Unfortunately for the US, the North Vietnamese were more unified than the South and, as the war unfolded, the US was sucked in, expanding the US advisers and instructors into larger units that would go into battle alongside South Vietnamese troops. Once a significant number of US personnel was present as instructors and supply chain, the need to protect that US investment grew and the South Vietnamese learned how to persuade the US to increase the involvement.

By the Tet offensive, the US was heavily engaged directly, both on the ground in support of South Vietnamese troops and, as a strategic air force, in taking the battle to North Vietnam.

With a more flexible and intelligent plan, along the lines of that followed to victory by the British in Malaya, the US could have destroyed the North Vietnamese threat to South Vietnam. As it was, multiple opportunities were ignored or squandered and the North Vietnamese began to take the initiative. One major US weakness was the inability of its politicians to sell the war to the people.

There is much to learn from the Tet Offensive and this book is a good tutor.